Blue-spotted coral trout
Plectropomus laevis
Illustration: Bloom by Day
The big coral trout, and it comes two ways: a pale "footballer" with black saddles and yellow fins, or a grey fish with a dark head, five saddles and small blue spots. It holds a few metres off the coral watching you sideways, and unlike the common coral trout it rarely lets a diver get close twice.
how to recognise it
- two completely different looks: a whitish "footballer" phase with black saddles and yellow fins, and a greyish form with a dark head
- five dark saddles along the back
- small blue spots scattered over the body
- a yellow caudal peduncle and yellow fins in the footballer phase
don’t confuse with
- Leopard coral trout — the common coral trout is orange to brick red with small round blue spots and NO black saddles
- Barcheek coral trout — the barcheek has spots drawn out into dashes on the head, and no saddles
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 125 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~60 cm, to 125 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (125 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 501 at 24 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Osprey Reef (Coral Sea), Lizard Island — Cod Wall, Cod Hole (Ribbon Reefs GBR), Bougainville Reef (Coral Sea), Low Isles (Port Douglas), Holmes Reef (Coral Sea), Port Douglas (Outer GBR), Green Island (Cairns), Fitzroy Island (Cairns), SS Yongala Wreck, Marion Reef (Coral Sea), Hardy Reef (Whitsundays), Bait Reef (Whitsundays), Hayman Island — Blue Pearl Bay, Hook Island — Manta Ray Bay, Border Island (Whitsundays — East), Tongue Bay (Whitsunday — North), North Horn (Coral Sea), Cairns Reef (Great Barrier), Heron Island (GBR), Erskine Island, Lady Musgrave Island, Lady Elliot Island (GBR), Flinders Reefs (Coral Sea). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
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A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
QLD — Min: 50cm Max: 80cm · Combined limit: 7 in total of all trout species
source
· verified 2026-10-10
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.